Breaking Through
by Fannye
Summary: How one word from Sofia's mouth changes everything...
1. Broken

_The wonderful world of Grey's Anatomy and our favorite couple belong to Shonda Rhimes and ABC._

_A quick one-shot because I couldn't get it out of my head… Alex makes a major appearance._

_A/N at the end…_

* * *

**-Broken-**

He's not sure why, but seeing Callie's face the morning after deciding to stay in Seattle breaks him. It's more than the dark circles under her eyes and the gauntness that has become a permanent feature along her cheeks.

It's the word that leave Sofia's mouth as she locks her eyes on him in passing and Callie's strangled and heartbreaking reply as she tried to keep the tears he could clearly see in her eyes from running down her cheeks.

He'd heard the whispers, the rumors that Arizona hasn't even left her bed since Callie brought her home. And somehow deep down, he knows that she's broken Callie with her hate and her blame.

Worse, she's turned her back on her own child.

And suddenly, he can't help but want to climb down into whatever God forsaken hole that Arizona has dug for herself and pull her out. She's his mentor, his teacher… the one person who believed in him when no one else did.

But more importantly, she lost her leg because she got on that plane instead of him.

Because he turned his back on her and the future she was offering him.

It didn't take him long to find Callie or to convince her to give him her keys. The walk across the street and up the stairs to apartment 502 took even less.

When he opened the door he could feel it. The hatred and guilt and hopelessness hung in the air like a fog and it made him see red. So, without thinking of what he was going to say or how he would react when he finally came face to face with her, he marched across the living room and flung the door to the bedroom open.

Arizona didn't even flinch as it crashed into the wall.

"You're pathetic, you know that?" He heard her intake of breath, knew she was awake. But she refused to turn over and look at him. "Are you really going to waste the second chance you were given by lying in that bed and pushing everyone away?!"

She rolled over then and met his eyes. He could feel the anger shoot at him across the room as she glared at him. "Get out of my house Karev."

"No!"

She scoffed. "You have no right to come in here and invade my privacy. There's nothing you can say that I'm going to listen to so _get out_." She stressed the last two words, practically spitting them in his direction.

"I'm not leaving until you listen to me." He took a few steps into the room and continued around the bed as she tried to turn her back on him. "You don't think that I feel horrible? That I'm not haunted by the fact that it should be me without a leg or dead out there in those woods?"

"Fuck you." She mutters as she lies back down and focused her eyes on a spot on the wall.

"No, _fuck you_ Arizona. Do you have any idea what you're doing to your wife? She lost her best friend yesterday. She had to make the worst decision of her _life_ to save you."

"_IT'S HER FAULT I DON'T HAVE A LEG_!" She roared as she surged upward.

"No, it's not! God dammit, she saved your fucking life! She had no other _CHOICE_!" He leaned down and got in her face, caged her in with his hands on either side of her body before he continued. "When she went through that windshield you blamed yourself. You kept saying it was your fault over and over again while I was cleaning you up after the accident. What if Callie never recovered from the trauma to her head? What if she was never able to straighten out her left hand, would she have blamed you? Or worse, if you hadn't been able to start Sofia's heart after she was born?"

He watched her face drain, the color of her eyes lighten as he felt the fight go out of her.

"That didn't happen." Her words were barely a whisper as they left her lips.

"No, it didn't. Callie had nothing to do with that plane falling out of the sky. She had no other choice then to amputate your leg. Just like you had no choice but to watch her and Sofia fight for their lives after the car accident."

A sob broke her lips before she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

"You have a chance to live, Arizona. Callie made a vow to love you in sickness and in health; she hasn't left even though you've treated her like _shit_. Your daughter still loves you. Do you know what Sofia did this morning when she saw me? She said _Mama_ and looked around for you."

"What?" It left her lips as a strangled whisper as her eyes flew open and searched for his.

"You've been ignoring your own child Arizona." He watches as her face literally crumples and the sobs wrench tremors from her chest.

"I… I ca-can't let h-h-her see me li-like this" She sobs out.

He backs away as Arizona rolls to her side, drawing her body into a ball as she continues to sob. He lowers to his haunches and brushes a strand of hair from her face before continuing softly. "Do you really think that she'll love you less because you don't have a leg? She misses her _mama,_ Arizona."

At the word "mama" Arizona sobs even harder and he reaches to cover the hand that's clenching the comforter to her chest.

"With or without a leg you're still _you_. Callie and I can find the best people in the world to build you a new leg and you'll learn to walk again. Hell, you'll probably figure out how to ride on those damn Heelys again and run me over on a daily basis."

He watches as she chokes out a strangled laugh before taking a deep breath and finding his eyes.

"I'm staying to make sure the douche bag they have filling in for you at the hospital doesn't screw everything up… God only knows that we don't need another Stark." She smiles and lets go of the comforter to grab his hand.

And even though it's not the "super magic smile" that he knows, it's a start.

"But more importantly, I'm staying because I expect to be taught by the best Peds attending I know during my fellowship. So, promise me you'll get out of this bed." He pauses as he sees the uncertainty in her eyes. "But if you don't feel like you can do that for me, then do it for Sofia. She lost her dad Arizona, but she doesn't have to lose her mama too."

As Arizona nods her head they both hear the door to the apartment open and a frantic cry of "Karev" accompanied by the sound of soft giggles.

He smiles as he stands up and turns as Callie stops in the doorway. He gives Arizona's hand one more squeeze before letting go.

"What are you-?" Callie freezes as Arizona rolls over and makes eye contact with her. "I'm sorry," she whispers, "I wasn't thinking when I gave him the keys and I-"

"Stop." Arizona whispers back.

At the sound of her voice, Sofia whips her head around and finds Arizona sitting up in the bed.

"Mama!" She giggles as she turns her body fully in Callie's arms and reaches a chubby arm out towards her.

A few tears fall as Arizona meets her daughter's eyes for the first time in weeks. "Hi, baby girl." Her words might be strangled with emotion but he knows that the smile on her face is full of happiness. She locks eyes with Callie again and clears her throat. "Can you… can you bring her in here? Please?"

Callie nods and she doesn't try to hide the tears streaming down her face. As he tries to move past her silently through the doorway she reaches out and grabs his arm.

"_Thank you_."

He smiles before running his hand down Sofia's back as she continues to giggle and reach for Arizona. "Take her to her Mama; I think she's finally ready to see her again."

As he slips out the front door and closes it softly behind him he can't help but feel like he's knit himself back together. But more importantly, he's passed the suture kit to Arizona to close her brokenness as well.

* * *

_So, yay! It's my first Callie/Arizona fic… although it was through Alex's perspective lol._

_I think there may be more to this if anyone wants it… sort of a second chapter or accompanying one-shot about what happens after Alex leaves. Maybe even a look at what Callie or Arizona may have been thinking during this one-shot as well. Dunno, let me know what you think and I'll see if my muse decides to bite. At the moment, she seems to be chewing on the idea... along with a bunch of other one-shots and stories after watching a Grey's marathon the other day._

_Thanks for Reading! _

_Fannye_


	2. Drowning

_The wonderful world of Grey's Anatomy and our favorite couple belong to Shonda Rhimes and ABC._

_Because you asked for it… Callie's perspective._

* * *

**-Drowning-**

She'd experienced drowning before.

One afternoon, on a sunny day in Miami when she was ten she'd drifted out too far on her boogey-board and got caught in a swell of waves. She'd lost her board and went head over heels underwater in a matter of seconds. Each wave felt like it was pushing her farther and farther down and she couldn't find her way to the surface. Luckily, her father made it out to her in time and pulled her out of the surf.

If only her father could reach down and save her now. Because it felt like she was drowning more and more every day.

She was able to hold it together through work, until something, like meeting the new head of Peds yesterday had pushed her over the edge and into the storage room. She was mortified when Karev walked in and absolutely lost it when she realized that he had perched himself against the door to stand guard as she wept.

So she let go and wept for Mark… and for Arizona.

Watching Mark slip away after his life-support was turned off later that day was one of the worst moments of her life.

She had lost her best friend and the father of her child and after grieving all night alone on the couch she'd finally found the strength to open the door to their bedroom and confront Arizona. She finally pushed, demanding that she get out of the bed and live and Arizona pushed back even harder against her, throwing off the sheets in an ugly reminder of why she was there in the first place.

She'd broken her promise to not take her leg. But she'd been forced to amputate it when her wife started to crash, when the infection threatened to take her life for good.

Now it felt like she was losing her all over again.

It hurt too damn much; she just couldn't breathe in that apartment anymore. So, even though she wasn't scheduled to come into work, she got Sofia ready as fast as she could to escape the apartment and tried not to watch as Sofia reached out her hand towards Mark's door on the way out and mumbled "daddy".

She fought the tears as she walked across the street, Sofia perched on her hip. When Sofia buried her face into her neck and sighed she lost a few. She may be heartbroken, but Sofia didn't deserve to lose her father and she knew that she missed her mama just as much. Arizona had yet to hold or even look at Sofia since she brought her home. And it was starting to take a toll on their daughter.

She tried to walk through the front doors without making eye contact with anyone, but almost stumbled as she passed Karev and felt Sofia push against her shoulder so she could look around.

"Mama?"

One word from her baby's mouth and she was a goner. She did stop then and placed a hand on the back of Sofia's head as she tried to find her voice in a throat that was closed up with heartbreak and sadness.

"No baby. Ma-Mama's not her-here." She could barely get the words out as Sofia turned and she saw the tears begin to well in her daughter's eyes as well.

Her bottom lip quivered as she whispered, "_Miss_, Mama."

Callie pulled her head back into the crook of her neck and shifted so she could rub comforting circles on Sofia's back. "I know you do baby, I know." She started to walk again as she whispered brokenly, "So do I."

How she made it to the daycare center without sobbing hysterically was beyond her. In a daze she made her way to the attending's locker room and sat facing her locker, staring into space as she let her grief drown her deeper and deeper into the waters below.

She didn't know how long she had sat there before she realized that Karev was crouched in front of her shaking her shoulders gently as he searched her face saying something.

"What?"

"Where are your keys Callie, I need you to give them to me."

"Keys?"

"_Yes_, your keys. Where are they Callie?"

When she realized that she still had her purse on her shoulder she slowly dug them out. He took them from her hand gently.

"I'll be back, ok?"

She nodded without thinking. It was as if her mind had finally shut down on her as she just sat there in another daze, her mind jumping from one thought to the next. Memories of Mark and happier times with Arizona filtered through her mind until the memories turned darker… to those last final moments with Mark as he slipped away and Arizona's hatful words this morning as she ripped off the sheets to expose her leg.

The leg that she'd amputated and took away from her wife. From Arizona who-

And suddenly it was like breaking the surface again as all the little pieces in her mind seemed to snap back in place. She felt violently sick as she realized why Karev had taken her keys and what he was planning on doing.

He'd seen her sobbing yesterday in the supply closet and watched as Sofia had called out for Arizona in the hospital this morning. He'd put two and two together and was going to confront Arizona himself.

"No." She whispered, bolting from her seated position and running to the door. "No, no, no, no, no!"

She didn't bother to slow down as she rushed back to the daycare and grabbed Sofia. She felt only panic as she ran with Sofia on her hip across the street and up 5 flights of stairs, hearing her baby giggle at her frantic movements.

"Karev!" She yelled as she pushed open the door to their apartment and ran across the living room only to freeze in the bedroom doorway.

Karev was_ holding her hand_. It was the first thought that ran through her mind as she took in the scene in front of her. Arizona had barely let her touch her since she brought her back home and Karev was standing there next to their bedside with a smile on his face and Arizona's hand in his.

"What are you-"

She freezes mid-sentence as Arizona rolls over and locks eyes with her. "I'm sorry." She's whispering the words out as fast as she can, afraid that Arizona will blow up at her any moment, "I wasn't thinking when I gave him the keys and I-"

"Stop."

One word from Arizona's lips was all it took for her mind to go completely blank. That one word finally isn't full of hate or anger. It's so soft that it takes her completely by surprise. She can feel Sofia turn abruptly in her arms and watches as her baby zeroes in on her Mama sitting upright in their bed.

"Mama!" Sofia giggles and reaches out a chubby hand towards Arizona across the room.

"Hi, baby girl."

It's the love she hears in her wife's voice and the tears on her face as she smiles at her daughter that breaks her resolve. She can't stop the tears as they stream down her cheeks as Arizona turns her eyes back to her and clears her throat.

"Can you… can you bring her in here? Please?"

She doesn't trust her voice so she only nods as she keeps her eyes locked on Arizona. It's only when she feels Karev start to walk past her in the doorway that she reacts and grabs his arm to stop him.

"_Thank you_." It feels like it's ripped from her throat because in that moment those two words aren't enough for what she wants to say to him. She doesn't know what he said to her wife, but she knows deep down that this is a turning point for Arizona and without him it wouldn't have happened.

He smiles at her before running his hand down Sofia's back. "Take her to her Mama; I think she's finally ready to see her again."

He slips out the door and she turns to see her baby reaching a chubby hand towards her Mama and Arizona holding both arms out for her child with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.

It's like she's been saved from drowning all over again. Only this time, she has Alex Karev to thank for pulling her out of the surf.

* * *

_I need to say a huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorited or followed this story and/or me as an author. I'm completely humbled by the response that this story has gotten. _

_So, I promise I'll try to reply to most of your reviews, but I figured that you'd all appreciate another chapter first! This one was difficult to say the least, I've been in Callie's position where someone you love has completely cut you off and it's devastating. So, my heart on a page for you… as well as some minor changes to chapter one- different title, corrected errors and a slightly extended ending (I just couldn't help myself)._

_I might be able to pull out Arizona's perspective by tomorrow morning (it's halfway done as I write this). Of course it all depends on how much Grey's rips my heart apart tonight. Anyone see the extended 9.02 promo with the shower scene? It's gonna hurt so bad…_

_As always, thanks and enjoy!_

_Fannye_


	3. Empty

_The wonderful world of Grey's Anatomy and our favorite couple belong to Shonda Rhimes and ABC._

So, here we go… Arizona's perspective.

* * *

**-Empty-**

There was this emptiness inside of her now. An emptiness that she knew could be so full of sadness and despair that she'd never recognize herself if she let it in.

So, she built walls to protect herself; solid walls of hate and anger that she built against Callie and even towards Sofia. She couldn't be a wife anymore and she certainly couldn't be a mother. The Arizona that she knew was gone.

Everyday those walls kept protecting her and she knew deep down inside that they would continue to grow thicker and thicker until no one would be able to break through them.

She should have just died out in those woods. It would have been easier than this hell she was currently living in. Where her wife had broken the one promise she had asked of her and where she had let Mark down but refusing to take care of their girls once they had made it back.

She'd cried last night at 5pm. Sobbed so hard into her pillow that the emotions took over her body and she found herself screaming into the mattress below. Mark had torn down her walls and left her open and fragile to the emptiness that night. Over time he'd somehow reached down inside and left a permanent stamp on her heart. She'd begged him to hold on in those woods because she'd grown to love him like a brother and as the father of her child.

And now he was gone… just like Nick and Tim.

She'd barely calmed down by the time she heard Callie come in later that night. She listened to her wife's broken voice as she told Sofia how much her Daddy loved her and promised she'd never let her forget him.

She'd _almost_ called out to Callie because her walls had come down to grieve and hearing her wife cry and her daughter whimper in response to her words had almost broken her wide open.

She had opened her mouth when she heard the word "promise" and instantly the walls came back up.

She _hated_ that damn word.

So, instead of reaching out to her wife and her daughter she rolled over to face the wall and allowed the hate and anger fill her up again and drown out the rest of the world. She stayed in that safe place all night; hating the life she was now living, stuck without a left leg and blaming her wife and refusing to see her own child.

That was until the next morning, when Callie had opened the door and demanded that she get up out of bed. She didn't even really think, she just let her walls talk for her as she ripped off the covers and showed Callie exactly why she wasn't getting up out of that bed anytime soon.

She'd heard the bedroom door slam shut as she rolled back over the stare at the wall. She listened as she heard Callie moving around the apartment and sighed as she heard the apartment door open and close loudly not too long after that.

It may have been easy to let her walls talk her into being angry and hateful towards her family. But as she laid there she realized that she was beginning to hate herself even more. She was so engrossed in her own rambling thoughts that she barely heard the apartment door open or the heavy footsteps as they moved toward the bedroom door.

She snapped back to awareness when she heard the door crash against the wall and instantly prepared herself to do battle with Callie… again.

"You're pathetic you know that?"

The voice took her by surprise for a moment, but when she realized that Karev had stormed into her house she felt the breath audibly ripped from her throat in anger. She refused to turn over and look at the _asshole_ that put her on that plane because he was so selfish.

And she'd rot in Hell before she acknowledged the _bastard_ that cut off her leg.

"Are you really going to waste the second chance you were given by lying in that bed and pushing everyone away!?"

She felt her vision haze with red as the words left his mouth. Before she could stop herself she had already rolled over to face him. "Get out of my house Karev." She could feel the hatred on her tongue as she hissed the words across the room.

"No!"

_No? _An unrecognizable sound left her mouth as she stared at him. Who the _hell_ did he think he was? "You have no right to come in here and invade my privacy. There's nothing _you_ can say that I'm going to listen to so _get out_."

She refused to give him another minute of her miserable life. He'd taken enough as it was. She rolled back over to dismiss him but heard him start to move across the room as he continued to speak.

"I'm not leaving until you listen to me." She tried to ignore him as he loomed over her. "You don't think that I feel horrible? That I'm not haunted by the fact that it should be me without a leg or dead out there in those woods?"

"Fuck you." She mutters.

"No, _fuck you_ Arizona. Do you have any idea what you're doing to your wife? She lost her best friend yesterday. She had to make the worst decision of her _life_ to save you."

"_IT'S HER FAULT I DON'T HAVE A LEG_!" The words are ripped from her throat as the anger that shoots through her body makes her sit bolt upright.

"No, it's not! God dammit, she saved your fucking life! She had no other _CHOICE_!" She can only watch as he leans down and gets in her face, caging her in with his hands on either side of her body before he continues. "When she went through that windshield you blamed yourself. You kept saying it was your fault over and over again while I was cleaning you up after the accident. What if Callie never recovered from the trauma to her head? What if she was never able to straighten out her left hand, would she have blamed you? Or worse, if you hadn't been able to start Sofia's heart after she was born?"

In an instant she feels the hatred and anger she's been holding onto so dearly slip through her fingers as cracks form in her walls. The memories come rushing back to her, and her mind struggles to comprehend the fact that what he's saying _didn't_ happen.

Callie and Sofia are alive and healthy, not crippled or in the ground.

"That didn't happen." She whispers as she shuts the painful memories out.

"No, it didn't. Callie had nothing to do with that plane falling out of the sky. She had no other choice then to amputate your leg. Just like you had no choice but to watch her and Sofia fight for their lives after the car accident."

Try as she might, the memories come flooding back again. Her mind is filled with images of Callie lying in that hospital bed, not knowing if she was ever going to wake up and Sofia's tiny, fragile body in an incubator in the NICU. Before she can stop it a tortured sob breaks her lips. She tries to stop the feeling of more bubbling up inside of her, closing her eyes and shaking her head as she attempts to hold on to the hate and the anger that have become her constant companions.

"You have a chance to live, Arizona. Callie made a vow to love you in sickness and in health; she hasn't left even though you've treated her like _shit_. Your daughter still loves you. Do you know what Sofia did this morning when she saw me? She said _Mama_ and looked around for you."

"What?" She whispers in disbelief.

_Mama_.

Its one simple word that came from her daughter's lips this morning but one she can't remember hearing with her own ears in weeks.

Karev's eyes soften as he takes a deep breath. "You've been ignoring your own child Arizona."

It's the truth that finally breaks down her walls until they're nothing but dust.

She's been ignoring and shutting her baby out of her life. Her baby girl that will never be held by her Daddy again because Mark slipped away last night. Her baby that's probably been crying out for her when she wakes up at night.

Sofia's been_ waiting_ for her.

She doesn't try to stop the sobs this time. Instead she welcomes them and finally faces the ugly truth that she's been hiding from herself.

"I… I ca-can't let h-h-her see me li-like this."

She rolls to her side, drawing her body into a ball as she continues to sob. She can feel the emptiness seeping in, slitting her open as she faces the fact that she's terrified that she'll never be enough for her wife and her daughter without her leg.

Even more terrified that they won't be able to love her… because she can't find a way to love herself.

She feels Karev gently brush a strand of hair from her face. "Do you really think that she'll love you less because you don't have a leg? She misses her _mama,_ Arizona."

That word again. It slits her open and she clutches the comforter to her chest because she feels like the sobs are physically ripping her apart. Her eyes open when the steady pressure of a hand is placed on top of hers.

"With or without a leg you're still _you_. Callie and I can find the best people in the world to build you a new leg and you'll learn to walk again. Hell, you'll probably figure out how to ride on those damn Heelys again and run me over on a daily basis."

She chokes out a strangled laugh before taking a deep, steadying breath and finding his eyes.

"I'm staying to make sure the douche bag they have filling in for you at the hospital doesn't screw everything up… God only knows that we don't need another Stark."

She can't help but feel a small smile creep onto her lips, not only at the mention of Stark, but because suddenly the emptiness that was threatening to rip her open stops. She's so grateful that she lets go of the comforter to grab his hand that was still resting on top of hers.

"But more importantly, I'm staying because I expect to be taught by the best Peds attending I know during my fellowship. So, promise me you'll get out of this bed."

He pauses as he sees the uncertainty reflected in her eyes.

_Promises get broken_.

"But if you don't feel like you can do that for me, then do it for Sofia. She lost her dad Arizona, but she doesn't have to lose her mama too."

She can do it for her baby girl. She doesn't have to think twice about it. As she nods her head they both hear the door to the apartment open and a frantic cry of "Karev" accompanied by the sound of soft giggles.

Karev smiles as he stands up and he gives her hand one more comforting squeeze before letting go.

"What are you-?" She rolls over and locks eyes with Callie as soon as she hears her speak.

"I'm sorry," Callie whispers, "I wasn't thinking when I gave him the keys and I-"

"Stop." She whispers back.

At the sound of her voice, Sofia whips her head around and finds her sitting up in the bed.

"Mama!" She giggles as she turns her body fully in Callie's arms and reaches a chubby arm out towards her.

A few tears fall as she meets her daughter's eyes for the first time in weeks. "Hi, baby girl." Her words are strangled with emotion but she can feel the smile stretching across her face for her daughter. She finds Callie's eyes again and clears her throat. "Can you… can you bring her in here? Please?"

Callie nods as tears stream down her face. She watches as Karev tries to move past her through the doorway and sees her reach out and grabs his arm.

"_Thank you_."

Karev smiles before running his hand down Sofia's back. "Take her to her Mama; I think she's finally ready to see her again."

As Karev slips out the door she looks back to her daughter, who's still giggling in happiness and reaching for her. She holds out her arms and sends the best super magic smile that she can to her daughter across the room.

The hate and anger can't have her anymore… because she's finally realized that Sofia and Callie will help her fill up the emptiness that's inside. And she refuses to let anything but the love for her daughter and wife rule her life from that moment on.

* * *

_Again, I am totally floored with how many people are interested in this story when there are so many wonderful post 9.01 and 9.02 stories out there to follow and read. _

_So thank you… from the bottom of my heart. I hope this chapter lives up to everything you've been looking forward to._

_I don't know about you, but I'm so ready for some happy. Even my muse is feeling depressed. So, in the works is a sequel as you may- what happens after Karev leaves the apartment. Not sure if I'll post it as another story or as a chapter here, but I promise there will be some sunshine in it._

_As always, thanks for reading and enjoy!_

_Fannye_


	4. Mending

_The wonderful world of Grey's Anatomy and our favorite couple belong to Shonda Rhimes and ABC._

_The final installment… what happens when Karev leaves the apartment._

* * *

**-Mending-**

_Was it possible to mend something that's so broken that it doesn't even resemble what it once was?_

It's the one thought that runs through Callie's mind as she somehow stops her tears and takes in the sight in front of her. She doesn't want anything to cloud the vision of her daughter and her wife reaching for each other simultaneously across the room.

When Sofia squirms in her arms, twisting and grunting with effort to reach her Mama, Callie slowly crosses the room and sinks onto the end of the bed with her. The minute they touch down, Sofia starts bouncing and giggling in her arms, pushing against her chest to stand on her own two legs.

"Mama, Mama, Mama!"

She pulls Sofia up so that she's perched on the bed and tries to blink away the tears that are welling back up in her eyes as she watches Arizona reach out and pull Sofia from her arms.

"Hi there, who's my baby girl, huh?" Arizona cradles Sofia to her chest and Sofia instantly wraps her chubby arms around her Mama's neck, burying her face into the soft skin there, her little body instantly relaxing into Arizona's hold with a contented sigh.

With one arm wrapped around Sofia's back, Arizona gently cradles the back of her head with the other. She closes her eyes, tears tracking down her face as she whispers, "I'm so sorry Sofia. Mama is so-so sorry for ignoring you." She squeezes her daughter tighter and leans down so she can nuzzle Sofia's cheek as the emotion garbles her voice and steals her breath, "I-I'm so so-so-rry. Mama's _so sorry_, baby."

Callie can only watch in silence from her spot on the end of the bed. She can't help but let the sight break her heart and fix it all in one fell swoop. It's heartbreakingly beautiful. This is everything she's wished for and nothing at all in the same moment. Sofia needs her Mama and here Arizona is, welcoming their daughter back into her life. But she needs Arizona just as much as her daughter and yet she knows somewhere deep down that she may never get her back. She knew that months ago when she realized that her wife had become an empty shell and taking off her leg may hollow her out forever.

Even through her deepest fear of losing her wife for good, Callie knows that Arizona and Sofia deserve this time together, but she's not sure she can watch anymore without dissolving into a ball of misery. So with every bit of strength that she has, Callie chokes down all of her despair and pushes off from the bed.

Arizona feels the weight lift from the end of the bed and watches as Callie makes her way slowly to the door. It takes her a few seconds to find her voice again and she says the one thing she knows will make her wife stop before she leaves the bedroom.

"_Calliope_."

Callie freezes when she hears Arizona whisper her full name. It's been so long since she's heard it that she wonders briefly if her mind has finally succumbed to so much grief that she's hearing her darkest wishes.

"You don't have to leave."

Those five simple words are just too much. As her mind processes the fact that Arizona has told her to stay, she loses the battle with herself. Her arms clutch her middle as cries tear their way out of her throat and she tries desperately to find her breath.

Arizona watches her wife collapse in on herself, her back and shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs. In horror she realizes just how deeply she's hurt Callie, how brutally she damaged her that a simple request to stay makes her breakdown emotionally and physically. She readjusts Sofia, who is still holding onto her neck and tries again to reach out to Callie.

"Calliope _please_…" When her wife only sobs harder and still doesn't turn she feels her own voice choke with emotion again. "_Please_, look at me. I-I need you to look at me."

Callie reaches up with shaking hands to wipe the tears from her face and takes a steadying breath. She forces her legs to turn, even though they're still trembling and slowly raises her eyes to meet Arizona's across the room.

"I love you," Arizona whispers. Callie covers her mouth with the back of her hand as she chokes out another sob. "And I _need_ you. So Calliope please-" She pauses and takes a deep breath, searching Callie's eyes. "_Please _come here."

With shaky legs, Callie makes it to the edge of the bed and hesitantly lowers herself onto the mattress. She's still in shock and overwhelmed from the words that have come from Arizona's mouth. And even though her heart desperately wants to crawl up and find solace in her wife's arms, her mind is terrified that Arizona will turn hard again with anger and only push her away.

So, she keeps her eyes on the comforter and waits.

It doesn't take long for Arizona to lean forward enough so that she can place her hand on top of Callie's and not jostle Sofia, who seems to have fallen asleep on her shoulder. She squeezes Callie's hand and tries to find the right words to say to her wife.

"I'm so sorry." She whispers and watches as Callie shakes her head.

"I-I cut off y-your leg," Callie whispers brokenly. "I broke the-the _one_ promise you asked of me."

"_Callie_."

"And I tried, I tried _so_ hard to save it," She continues, looking up and searching Arizona's eyes. "I spent _hours_ researching and making this plan to help you. I fought with Owen and won his approval and everything was going fine… until you, until you… you…"

"Until I started crashing," She supplies as Callie breaks down and begins to cry again, her body folding in on itself.

Arizona had read her chart, she knew that the infection had caused her to go into septic shock and that her body was unable to fight the infection anymore. Regardless of the medication that Karev had pushed into her body to stop it.

"You were going to _die_, Arizona. And I could-couldn't lose you," Callie chokes out. "I'd lost you for four days and I couldn't lose-lose you again so I-"

"_Cut off my leg_." The hatred in Arizona's words cut like knife through her and she tenses up, ready for the yelling and blame to find their way back into the room.

Arizona takes a steadying breath and pushes the anger away with everything she has. She won't go back there again; she won't hate Callie for saving her life.

It wasn't fair to either of them to let the hate and anger rule their lives again.

So, she tries the truth instead.

"You… saved my _life__,_ Calliope." She watches Callie's head jerk up in surprise. "I couldn't face the fact that my leg couldn't be saved. And I made you make a promise that I shouldn't have when I knew _exactly_ what was happening."

She links her fingers though Callie's hand that she's still holding onto and searches out her eyes again. "I was blaming you and hating you for what you did to me. I pushed our daughter away and refused to talk to you because I was scared…" Tears spill over Arizona's cheeks as she continues, "And I'm still there- I'm _so_ scared that I won't be enough for you, that-that you won't be able to love me because I-I can't figure out how to lo-love myself like-like this."

Callie moves then, quickly raising herself up in the bed so that she molded to Arizona's side and reaches out to cup her cheek.

"You will _always_ be enough for me," Callie whispers. "And there is nothing in this world that will _ever_ keep me from loving you, Arizona."

It's Arizona that breaks this time, turning her face into the pillow as she heaves out all the pain that she's been keeping inside. Her body vibrates with her sobs and Callie moves her hand so that it rests on top of the one that Arizona has placed on Sofia's back, trying to steady their sleeping daughter.

"Shhh," She croons as she uses her free hand to grab Arizona's chin and pull her face out of the pillow so that she can wipe away the tears that are streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry, I-I'm so-so s-s-sorr-y," Arizona gasps out.

"It's okay," Callie feels her own voice breaking. "It's going to be okay."

"How-how can y-you know that?" Arizona cries back.

"Because," Callie waits until both of Arizona's watery eyes meet hers. "Whatever you can't do, I will, remember? I'm here and I'm not leaving you,_ ever_. That's how this works, Arizona."

It was the same thing she'd said to Arizona after Nick's heart surgery failed, when her wife was so broken by losing someone else in her life that she made her promise that she'd never leave her.

But those words weren't enough anymore, so she rests her forehead against Arizona's and closes her eyes before she continues.

"But you have to _let_ me," Arizona whimpers at her words. "You have to let me love you and support you and pick you up when you're too tired or afraid to keep going. I'll do _anything_ for you, but please don't ever push me away again because I need you so much and I can't keep doing this without you-"

Her words are stolen from her throat as she feels Arizona place her lips on top of hers. They're both crying and gasping through the kiss and it's nothing more than an innocent meeting of lips, but it's more than enough.

"I'll let you." Arizona gasps as Callie tangles a hand through her hair and pulls her back in.

And somehow they found that they had finally reached through all the broken pieces of their lives, where they'd been forced deeper and deeper into the drowning waters by their grief and surrounded by emptiness that threatened to swallow them whole, and mended themselves back together again.

So, with thankful hearts and whispered words of love and comfort they laid there together for the first time in months and cradled the miracle between them that had brought them back together with one simple word.

* * *

_And the journey is finally over, with some sunshine in the end as promised._

_If only the journey was over on Grey's as well… I've heard that we may have to wait until February for the pain to end. _

_I can't tell you how wonderful it has been to write this story and share it with all of you. I've been on a writing hiatus for close to a year, so dusting off my writing fingers and getting back into the groove has been just awesome. I'm so excited to share more of my ideas with all of you in the future. _

_By the way, I'm always open to requests if you have any ideas you'd love to see. I can't promise I'll write full stories because I'm a one-shot junkie but maybe sometime in the future I'll give it a shot._

_As always, thanks for reading and enjoy!_

_Fannye_


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